Victims say numbers are meaningless. . .

CREDIT - Jonathan Pow / rossparry.co.uk''Police at the scene outside the Stars and Mayfair Function Suites where last night a man was murdered at a private party. The venue is on Queens Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire.

STATISTICS may show crime has reached a record low in South Yorkshire - but victims told The Star today numbers mean little when you have been affected personally.

Teacher Gemma Vause, from Treeton, Rotherham, had her car stolen in September after her home was burgled for the keys while she and her husband and two children were asleep.

The mum-of-two, aged 35, said the county’s crime figures do not fill her with reassurance.

“We are still affected by what happened,” she said. “Burglars don’t realise the impact they have, especially on young children. My boys still won’t come downstairs alone. “There have been a spate of these offences in our village - you seem to hear about it happening to somebody else every day - yet I haven’t seen one extra police officer walking the streets.

“Figures don’t mean anything to you when you have been a victim of crime - you never really feel safe again.”

Michael Wiles, 57, who runs a newsagent’s on Langsett Road, Hillsborough, Sheffield, was stabbed while fighting off a masked robber in his shop in October.

He was knifed in the stomach, shoulder and below his ribs by an armed raider who threatened to kill him before grabbing just £20 from the counter and fleeing. Michael, who has run the shop for 35 years, said: “I think criminals are getting more and more determined and will do anything to get what they want - even stabbing someone for just a few pounds.

“You can’t say anything to anyone these days, or do anything if people come into your shop and start causing trouble. It’s like people know they can get away with it.

“The figures may say crime is down - but I still worry about who is going to come into my shop next.”